Musical Monday: You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

Posted on by

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

you were never lovelir5This week’s musical:
You Were Never Lovelier (1942) – Musical #66

Studio:
Columbia Studios

Director:
William A. Seiter

Starring:
Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Adolphe Menjou, Isobel Elsom, Leslie Brooks, Adele Mara, Gus Schilling, Barbara Brown, Douglas Leavitt
Himself: Xavier Cugat, Lina Romay,

Plot:
Eduardo Acuña (Menjou) wants his daughters to be married in order of age. While his two youngest daughters are eager to be wed, his second eldest Maria (Hayworth) is indifferent. To instill some romance in her life, Eduardo arranges a ruse of a secret admirer, who she mistakes to be New York dancer Robert Davis (Astaire).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Frankie and Johnny (1966)

Posted on by

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

frankie and johnnyThis week’s musical:
Frankie and Johnny (1966) – Musical #681

Studio:
United Artists

Director:
Frederick De Cordova

Starring:
Elvis Presley, Donna Douglas, Harry Morgan, Sue Ann Langdon, Nancy Kovack, Audrey Christie, Robert Strauss, Anthony Eisley, Joyce Jameson, Jerome Cowan (uncredited), Eddie Quillan (uncredited), Naomi Stevens (uncredited)

Plot:
Johnny (Presley) is a singer on a riverboat. Much to the chagrin of his girlfriend Frankie (Douglas), Johnny gambles all of his salary away, because he’s constantly on a losing streak. A gypsy tells Johnny that a redhead will bring him luck. When redheaded Nellie Bly (Kovack) comes aboard, Johnny woes her, getting himself in trouble with Frankie, and Nellie’s boyfriend (and his boss), Braden (Eisley).

Continue reading →

Watching 1939: Irish Luck (1939)

Posted on by

In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

irish luck1939 film:
Irish Luck (1939)

Release date:
Aug. 22, 1939

Cast:
Frankie Darro, Dick Purcell, Mantan Moreland, Sheila Darcy, Lillian Elliott, James Flavin, Dennis Moore, Howard Mitchell, Donald Kerr

Studio:
Monogram Pictures

Director:
Howard Bretherton

Plot:
Hotel bellhop Buzzy O’Brien (Darro) is an amateur detective and frequently gets in the way of the police, especially Steve Lanahan (Purcell). When a hotel guest is murdered, Buzzy takes it into his own hands to solve the case with the help of his pal, Jefferson (Moreland).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Top o’ the Morning (1949)

Posted on by

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Top O’ the Morning (1949) – Musical #450

top o the morning

Studio:
Paramount Pictures

Director:
David Miller

Starring:
Bing Crosby, Ann Blyth, Barry Fitzgerald, Hume Cronyn, Eileen Crowe, John McIntire, Tudor Owen, Jimmy Hunt, Morgan Farley,

Plot:
When the Blarney Stone is stolen from an Irish village, an American insurance investigator Joe Mulqueen (Crosby) travels to Ireland to investigate. In Ireland, the local police Sergeant Briany McNaughton (Fitzgerald) is trying to investigate the case. Joe falls for McNaughton’s daughter Conn (Blyth).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Roberta (1935)

Posted on by

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

robertaThis week’s musical:
Roberta (1935) – Musical #106

Studio:
RKO Studio Pictures

Director:
William A. Seiter

Starring:
Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Randolph Scott, Helen Westley, Claire Dodd, Ferdinand Munier, Luis Alberni, Victor Varconi

Plot:
Former American football hero, John Kent (Scott), travels to Paris with his pal Huck Haines (Astaire) and Haines’s jazz band. Huck and his band fail to secure a job, and the group is down on their luck. John seeks help from his Aunt Minnie (Westley) who runs an exclusive fashion house, immediately falling for her assistant Stephanie (Dunne). The jazz band finds success with the help of a phony countess (Rogers). But things get complicated when John inherits the fashion house.

Continue reading →

Watching 1939: That’s Right — You’re Wrong (1939)

Posted on by

In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

1939 film:
That’s Right — You’re Wrong (1939)

Release date:
Nov. 24, 1939

Cast:
Kay Kyser’s Band as themselves: Kay Kyser, Harry Babbitt, Ginny Sims, Ish Kibble
Adolph Menjou, May Robson, Lucille Ball, Dennis O’Keefe, Edward Everett Horton, Roscoe Karns, Moroni Olsen, Hobart Cavanaugh
Themselves: Sheilah Graham, Hedda Hopper, Erskine Johnson, Feg Murray, Fred Orthman

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
David Butler

Plot:
A film studio is on the rocks financially. When they hear Kay Kyser’s (himself) successful radio program, they want to make a film with Kyser. Once the band arrives in Hollywood, several of the bandmates let success go to his head, writers can’t fit a story to Kyser, and there’s a threat that Kyser’s female singer, Ginny Simms (herself), will be replaced by another actress (Ball).

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Stars Over Broadway (1935)

Posted on by

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Stars Over Broadway (1935) – Musical #700

stars on broadway3

Studio:
Warner Bros.

Director:
William Keighley

Starring:
Pat O’Brien, James Melton, Jane Froman, Jean Muir, Frank McHugh, Eddie Conrad, William Ricciardi, Marie Wilson, Frank Fay, E.E. Clive
Himself: Jack Dempsey, the Morgan Family

Plot:
Theatrical agent Al McGillevray (O’Brien) is on the ropes and unsuccessful. He’s about to end it all until he hears the singing voice of porter Jan (Melton). Al is reinvigorated and wants to try to put over Jan King as a singer. Training his voice, he finds him a steady gig. But success goes to Jan’s head and starts to tumble.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Reet, Petite, and Gone (1947)

Posted on by

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

This week’s musical:
Reet, Petite, and Gone (1947) – Musical #702

Reet Petite

Studio:
Astor Pictures

Director:
William Forest Crouch

Starring:
Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five, June Richmond, Milton Woods, Bea Griffith, Lorenzo Tucker, Pat Rainey, Vanita Smythe, David Bethea

Plot:
Sklyer Jarvis (Jordan) is on his death bed and remembering his lost love. He wants his son, bandleader Louis Jarvis (also Jordan), to marry Honey Carter (Griffith), the daughter of Skyler’s former girlfriend. The marriage is the only way Louis will inherit his father’s fortune. Unfortunately, Skyler’s unscrupulous lawyer (Tucker) tries to change Skyler’s will and keep the couple apart.

Continue reading →

Musical Monday: Ski Party (1965)

Posted on by

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals.
In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals.

ski partyThis week’s musical:
Ski Party (1965) – Musical #696

Studio:
American International Pictures

Director:
Alan Rafkin

Starring:
Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Deborah Walley, Yvonne Craig, Aron Kincaid, Michael Nader, Bobbie Shaw, Patti Chandler, Luree Holmes, Robert Q. Lewis, Steven Rogers, Mikki Jamison, Salli Sachse
Themselves: James Brown, Lesley Gore, The Hondells
Cameo: Annette Funicello

Plot:
Todd (Avalon) and Craig (Hickman) are unsuccessful with women, especially compared to campus hunk Freddie Carter (Kincaid). To better understand women, learn how Freddie wins women, and get closer to the girls they like —Linda (Walley) and Barbara (Craig) — Todd and Craig join a college ski trip. Part of this involves dressing up like English co-eds, Nora and Jane.

Continue reading →

Watching 1939: Everything’s On Ice (1939)

Posted on by

In 2011, I announced I was trying to see every film released in 1939. This new series chronicles films released in 1939 as I watch them. As we start out this blog feature, this section may become more concrete as I search for a common thread that runs throughout each film of the year. Right now, that’s difficult.

everythings on ice1939 film:
Everything’s On Ice (1939)

Release date:
Oct. 6, 1939

Cast:
Irene Dare, Roscoe Karnes, Edgar Kennedy, Lynne Roberts, Eric Linden, George Meeker, Wade Boteler

Studio:
RKO Radio Pictures

Director:
Erle C. Kenton

Plot:
Child ice skater Irene (Dare) is exploited by her chiseling uncle Felix (Karns) when he signs her up to perform at a resort in Florida. Felix is also trying to arrange romances with Irene’s older sister, Jane (Roberts), that seem to be financially profitable. Pretty soon, it becomes apparent that everyone is trying to use everyone else for money.

Continue reading →